We are taking a trip from the US to Italy ( 10 day long ) and was curious what are the best options for an American ATT iPhone ( actually 3 iPhones, taking family ) on getting cell and data.
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Traveling abroad with ATT iPhones
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You can sign up for the AT&T International Day Pass (uses existing home plan limits) for each phone which would be approximately $300.00 for your planned trip ($10.00 per phone per day), or purchase local SIM cards once you get to Italy which would be far less expensive (only if the phones are unlocked). With local SIM cards you would not have the same texting phone number, voicemail etc. since the SIM would have an Italian phone number. You can also purchase an AT&T Passport plan that gives you a set amount of data for a month.
Here is a link for the AT&T International plans. https://www.att.com/offers/international-plans/compare-options.html
My wife and I travel abroad twice a year and always get local SIM cards. It's a lot cheaper and less problematic. Just make sure your phones are unlocked.
I recommend local SIMs too. If you're not currently under an AT&T installment plan (like AT&T Next), but you bought the phone from AT&T, you should unlock your phone. https://www.att.com/deviceunlock/
I'll be purchasing the AT&T version of the iPhone 8, but will be paying for it outright using a credit card. From what I understand, I can request AT&T to unlock it after having the phone activated for 24 hours. Can anyone confirm this?
If you're already paying full price, don't buy from AT&T. Buy it from Apple and it's automatically unlocked right from the start.
Oh, I'm definitely buying it from Apple. I have no plans to leave AT&T, but I prefer to keep my phone and service plan completely separate. Unfortunately, the unlocked versions aren't usually released a month or two after the initial release. Are you saying that the phone won't be carrier-locked if I buy it outright from Apple?
Agreed. Thus far, our trips have usually been after the new iPhone has been released so we would request unlock for our iPhone and use that with local SIM. Besides, swapping SIM cards seem to mess up with iMessage after a while so I avoid doing that now.
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Yep.
If you buy from Apple upgrading an existing AT&T phone then it will be locked. You can however have it unlocked the next day no problem. You may have to wait a couple of months for an unlocked version from Apple.
This is true of buying full price or using the Apple iPhone Upgrade Program, but if you buy from Apple using a carrier installment plan, it will follow the lock policy of the carrier, if I'm not mistaken. So with the exception of Verizon, getting a carrier installment plan at the Apple Store means the phone will be locked.
In this case, you're referring to the previous phone, right?
I was just in Bermuda for a week and used the AT&T international day pass and it worked perfectly. But $10 per day per phone plus taxes would be a little expensive for your trip.
I'm definitely placing my order the second Apple begins accepting preorders and certainly don't mind waiting a day to unlock the phone.
I'm buying outright from Apple. I prefer not to have my phone payments tied to my wireless plan.
For the length of time the OP is spending in Italy, purchasing a local SIM card is probably their best bet (granted that their iPhone's are unlocked).
If you don't want to add the AT&T International Day Pass, you can always scope out wi-fi spots and check email, social media, texts from there. Then when you leave, put your phone on Airplane Mode.
If you don't want to add the AT&T International Day Pass, you can always scope out wi-fi spots and check email, social media, texts from there. Then when you leave, put your phone on Airplane Mode.
Are you sure you need to wait a day? I've never heard that before. Do you need to request the unlock from the carrier or Apple? The only requirement I've seen is you might have to connect the phone to iTunes, but nothing else. This was for the 6S so I'm not sure if that's the case anymore. http://www.idownloadblog.com/2015/0...ght-from-apple-and-paid-in-full-are-unlocked/
I think you can request an unlock the same day. I did it last year with my 7+. It's locked to AT&T so you have to request it from them. It's very simple and done on their website.
Same experience (full price iPhone purchased from Apple Store). When I connected to iTunes, it just told me it's unlocked. No need to request unlock from AT&T.
Wow! Tons of great advice, thank you!
Unfortunately all three are on the Next plan, gotta have the new Edition when it comes out ( because I'm a sucker for new tech ).
I'll look into the day plan, $300 isn't too bad.
What about ATT Passport? Something like 30 days for $40 each device. That may save me half. If I read it properly.
Unfortunately all three are on the Next plan, gotta have the new Edition when it comes out ( because I'm a sucker for new tech ).
I'll look into the day plan, $300 isn't too bad.
What about ATT Passport? Something like 30 days for $40 each device. That may save me half. If I read it properly.
The AT&T Passport will only give you 200mb of data for the entire time for each device so if you go with that plan, keep a close eye on your cellular usage via settings cellular. I have used the plan before and would keep cellular data off until I wanted to check email or the internet. I was able to stretch it for a two week vacation by predominantly using Wi-Fi in the hotels and only using the Passport plan sparingly during the day.
If you're a longtime at&t customer they might honor an unlock request even if you're still making payments. Might as well try.
It's not like at&t has any risk in unlocking it. You're still on the hook to finish all of the payments anyway.
It's not like at&t has any risk in unlocking it. You're still on the hook to finish all of the payments anyway.
I am in France right now with ATT phone and $10/ day plan. The $10 per day only activates when roaming has been activated, then you are charged and have int. capability for a 24 hour period. The $10 /day charge will not be charged on any phone that de-activates it's roaming capability.
It is therefore possible to save if you only activate some phones some of the times / or days during your trip.
It is therefore possible to save if you only activate some phones some of the times / or days during your trip.
I bought my iPhone 7+ outright from AT&T. Next time I'll do it through Apple. Two months after purchase I requested an unlock and was denied. I called and they said no problem. But they had a glitch in the system. It took several days and a lot of time on the phone. If you're going to buy outright - just get it from Apple.
Those AT&T international plans are a lot more expensive than they were a few years back. When they increased the rates I changed to the local SIM method when in the UK (three.co.uk and the SIM worked in Italy for us at no extra charge).